Wichita eagle., 1887-10-20
A POPULAR ERROR
MASSACHUSETTS, SuPsRFIUoUSWO.
MEN WIDOWS, NOT sPINSTERS

An Erroneous Notion Exploded by Q
Careful Statistical Investigation-Hov
the Dangerous Occupations XIII More
Men Than War.A Painful Case.
The great number Of recent railroad di&as-
ters in New England and the facts that have
been made public by the discussion OF the re
| Gently enacted employers liability law in
Massachusetts, throw new light on the pre-
ponderance of women in this state An in
vestigation Of all the facts bearing on this
social phenomenon reveals n tragedy which
may be told In statistics Who are these sur
| plus womeni Unmarried women. So 1t hss
been supposed, enormously
1t has been assumed that they were thu I'M
married: the maidens and spi,lStegs "left' In
the struggle for matrimonial prizes, and
therefore presumably not the sittest" But
an investigation made shows that they are
neither young maidens nor spinsters, but they
were. not long ago, the -f1ttest.' the brightest
| or their sex, who early won the love and sup
! port OF brave young fellows. and are now
WIDOWS 1t takes very few figures TO tell this
fact In the tragedy. The total excess OF fe-
males In the state Is IS 1913, and Of this mum
Der 6o,O0i, or more than s. per cent are
widows. the total number Of widowed men In
the state being 81, 154 and OF widowed women
e7,15S
lie Is not among women Of advanced wears
or even among those in middle life that the
great excess is found More than half are
not yet ~. and % O04 are of ages between 90
and 90 They had but tasted of the happi-
ness Of wifehood and motherhood when they
Were made "superhous.n A great number OF
these women are the widows of the men whose
dreadful deaths by a thousand forms of mutt
iation we read of In our newspapers night and
mornins-the young wage earners killed in
the dangerous occupations.
The perils of the fisheries are a familiar
tale. Since earliest colonial DAYS the coast
population has derived its support mainly
from the sea, and If the down east minister's
salary Is no longer paid in cod and mackerel
Dy weight or count it is none the less paid
with cod and mackerel in another way. The
fisherman sees but little of his home His
quest takes him I50 to 1000 or
more miles from Gloucester. He erters
the little dory, and, casting Off from the YES
sci. exposes himself TO the full force of the
Atlantic. With the best of luck his suffer
ings are severe. and it is often that the wors.
OF luck overtakes him. Lost liz toe fog, he
dies In the agonies of starvation and thirst.
and Last seen on the Georges is the only
word that gets back to the desolate home at
Gloucester. From 90 to 100 lives a year are
lost from fishing vessels hsiling from that
single port of Gloucester. Last year the mum
Der was lis
Not so concentrated in one locality and
occupation, but enormously greater in the
aggregate, Is the loss of life in the inland in
dustries. The network OF railroads that
covers the state is the great minotaur. The
average number Of fatal accidents To railroad
employees during the ten years, 1875 to 1856.
was A. per year. The average number OF
accidents not fatal was 1870. and a large pro
portion OF these, IL should be remembered
result ultimately In premature death The
average number OF persons not employees
killed while walking or lying on the tract,
was $40 per year. An analysis Of the latter
number shows that the popular notion that
track walkers are usually drunken men or
tranps Is "a mistaken as popular notions in
general. The ma ority OF them are laborers.
going to and from work by the railroad
trick because 1t is more direct than the high.
way.
{
While actually engaged in the duties Of their
calling make up painful record Here is
one case from many i'll my note book. John
Gaylord was freight brakeman. He was
"one OF the boys but warm hearted fellow.
with plenty Of good sense. Annie Day was a |
corneiy. affectionate girl, whose father was
an engineer on the same road. When John
was promoted to a regular post on the pl4.- I
fCf.rr1 IF
told that II BIO kept straie' he wou'4
baggage master In few - -h-. L.
would keep straight and lie .
kept his wori in both part.et' The
railroad offers did MT ? John
was still on the platform OF , p rass.rl ,cr car
when there we're three ... Guy!ostls ia
Armies neat kitchen. One day John was in
good spirits as he started of, and
be looked back and waved his dinner pail to
Annie and the three little faces in the door
way. The next day the train had covered
two-thirds OF the return trip when the signal
sounded for brakes John sprang TO his
post The brakeman on the freight car fust
forward saw the passenger car toppls to one
side, saw John straining at the brake, and
turned away his eyes The passengers
crawled out, no. one badly injured, and the
trainmen looked about for John They
found him under the wreck, his hands clutch !
ing the broken brake-white, dead.
IL was nearly tea time, and nearly time for
John, when Annie heard the newSDoys cry
Dg, Last edition-all about the acciderst.r
\ familiar cry that always filed her with a
Dreadful fear. In a mofnen. she had the
paper. In the blur Of headlines tina. swan
before her eyes she sau only the words
'John Gaylord, Of this city, killed Annie
8 now one of the ''superfuousn wornen Of
Now multiply this case Of Annie Day by
Utmost the number OF weeks In the wear.
,hange the scsnes and incidents in every
,ase, and you begin 70 have dim idea or
be tragedy Of railroad employment. in this
NO little state 80 fall II roads. Multiply by
more than the number Of days ia the rear.
nj remember tie occupations Of the fire.
nan, the miner. the quarTyraan, The ro,ofer.
he painter, tha dyer, The ggiudar Of cutlery.
nd many more, and you b@giu 70 go tie
Itent q this suffering apd struggle. FL
lightly cailesi q traxsiy. IL Is 10 mere WI
az nselodrazna q sensational accsdeut II
J the Inevitable Consequence q Character.
-hose manly traits that make actions strong
q defense, irrspel men also % face dagger ia
upPort Ok their families. and - the extern
lon and development Of Industry ard trade.
-EoSsoa Cor Cleveland Leader.